wise words by Maggie

"you know the Justin Bieber song that says 'I will never say never'?

well, he says never in it.

so what's the point?"

haha.

I love that girl.

take 1 of 7/12

back at the beginning of the year,

one of my goals was to take a picture

of all of us every month-

this was January's try-

the first 7 letter word we could come up with was awesome,

so we grabbed some glow sticks and wrote it.

too bad I don't grasp the concept of writing letters backwards!

then I got it, but Ben decided to draw a man instead.

then I was trying to figure out the settings on my camera in the dark,

and then everyone had lost any interest.

but I think it is definitely worth another try-

it was AWESOME.

winter

this picture was taken a while ago.
the very day the snow blew in and the cold winds came,
and the following week was so very cold.
now it is nice again.
winter weather swings.
just like this girl's mood swings.
and she's not even a teenager yet.
yikes.

I wonder..

would it be wrong of me

to make a little camisole

for this barbie to wear

under her very low cut dress?

I am just glad it was on one of

the higher shelves

so my sweet little girl

wouldn't see it.

really?

why can't barbies have longer skirts/dresses,

and dresses with sleeves.

just wondering.

although I am impressed with her sleeves and

the length of her dress.

just needs a little something to cover up the girls.

just saying.

baby....

it's cold outside!

gone are the unseasonably warm temperatures,

we are back to the normal- -30 degrees.

hot chocolate and a fire in the fireplace are in order for today!

birthdays from the past

so very exciting!

we had three birthdays in December,

I am not sure why one got missed.

sorry Sadie!

Ben is now 16. yikes!

Jack is 14- got his learners licence, but I still need to tell the tale on that one.

and Sadie is 10.

good times!

new year

for new years,

I always make resolutions.

a fresh start,

a new beginning.

one of them - I was thinking- is to blog more,

blog better. and yet,

I hadn't blogged yet.

sad. so here I am.

*my friend was trying to convince me I should run a marathon this year.

um- no thanks,

but I am making it a goal to run a 10k in September-

and actually RUN the whole way.

now that is a big goal. (for me, anyways)

*to do some scrapbooking.

- Cory will like that one.

*I am not sure about doing a picture a day- I did it last year (for most days)

and it gets to be kind of not fun most days-

but I am thinking of doing a 7/12 project-

take a picture of my whole family (the 7)

every month (the 12.)

not sure what I would do with all those- make a fun book maybe- with highlights of each month?- ooh, the wheels are spinning. hmmm. will have to think on that.

*clean out my craft room and make it into Maggies room. - I have a whole year, right? it might take that long.

*get my etsy shop stocked up with all the stuff I have stashed in that messy craft room,

and make those things I have imagined in my head, and get them into the shop- and sell more stuff in this shop,

or get a real job, because I really want to take a fantastic vacation- still deciding if it will just be Cory and I, or the whole family- and I really want to get out of debt, so I should probably contribute to the cause!

*generally keep my house cleaner, and make it super cute. big plans in store for that-

but trying to do it on the cheap, because I am trying to get out of debt.

* I am trying - just for January- to not spend any excess money- just food and necessities.

(although I did spend $0.50 at a thrift store yesterday on three adorable little bowls, but I don't think that really counts.)

*and to really not start any brand new projects that require more supplies, but to use up the stuff I have- in my messy craft room. I have some quilts in mind- but I should not need to buy anything except some batting.

*and I am going to read the whole Book of Mormon. I am going to find a cute chart I can fill in as I go- it is always fun to color in blocks as you go, right?

alright, I am off, to go clean up the living room, then maybe work on some stuff for the etsy shop. or a quilt. or something awesome!

happy new year!

December in a nutshell

christmas morning,

and the aftermath!

we went from having no lights up for most of December, to beautiful lights two days before Christmas!

the awesome part is that Cory bought even more lights to put on the tree next year!

can't wait!

gingerbread houses at school- the grades 2 and 5 do them,

so next year will be Maggie's turn- finally!

and the concerts.

oh the concerts.

this of course was a picture at Jeds.

Jacks was the night before,

the girls school concert was the same time as Jeds-

I hit the afternoon dress rehearsal, and Cory got to see the evening show!

it was a crazy whirlwind of a month-

it passed by so quickly.

now- trying to clean, dejunk,

and get lots of sleep!

yay for Christmas vacation!

(sorry- I really need to figure out how to get the words next to the appropriate pictures.-

goal for next year, perhaps?!)

merry christmas!

hope yours is super sweet!

random kindness

last night for family home evening

I wanted to do some random acts of kindness with my kids.

so we headed to walmart-

with some quarters,

and taped them to the candy machines,

and wrote merry christmas on the tape.

i think my kids would be so happy to find that,

so hopefully we can make some other kids happy.

I thought we could put carts away for shoppers,

but it wasn't too busy when we were there-

most people coming out were just holding bags,

and there was a worker in the parking lot collecting carts, so we didn't do that.

but-

we did head to tim hortons, and bought some tim bits- we took one box to the fire station/ambulance place, but the doors were locked,

then right when we were wondering what to do,

an ambulance came and parked,

so the girls and I went and talked to the super sweet, (and cute) young EMT- he was so kind to us and grateful for the treats!

then we headed to the police station

that was also locked,

but we picked up the phone by the door,

and a nice police officer came and took our treats.

he was very kind to us too,

and seemed grateful.

it was a fun evening,

and hopefully we helped others find some joy!

it's hard

so very hard to get my thoughts from my head to my blog. (if only my mind could post automatically- wouldn't that be something!)

and pictures? well, that adds a whole new level of work.

seriously.?!

(it's not really hard, but obviously not a big priority for me, or else I would do it)

but there is so much that needs documented.

like our elf on the shelf-

I will introduce you soon. - he is a tricky little guy.

and Jacks attempts at getting his learners licence-

just guess how many times it took him!

he is at his first Church dance tonight!

how exciting.

wow- my second kid already at dances?

where did time go?

- or like hanging out at Shoppers Drug Mart with JB himself-

okay, just a cut out, but still fun, right?

(the ladies working there just said to go ahead and do it, tons of people do!)

I am always tempted to ask what they are going to do with him when they are done with him- maybe we could bring him home.

now that would be fun.

well, until the boys drew stuff on his face- mustache, devil horns- that would be inevitable!

maybe one day I will get up the courage to check into it!

I will never say never. (ha ha)

he came to town

the last saturday in November

was our city's annual Santa Claus parade.

it is such a fun tradition.

some of the shops and banks down town give out hot chocolate.

(some hot chocolate is better than others- but now we know where to go for the good stuff!)

candy is handed out-

lots and lots of candy canes, of course.

it isn't that great as far as parades go-

lots of cars and trucks with signs,

but hey,

it is cold here in the north!

Santa is always on the very last float,

of course!

it was a fun time.

(and Ben had a friend come along.)

and the kids just moaned when I made them stop by a window and take a picture with me.

but they humored me,

and I love them for it!

super saturday

yes,

it was weeks ago.

I have been awful about posting about it,

because- although I had my camera there,

I did not pull it out once,

so i have no pictures.

not one.

sad.

but I will tell you about it.

we did two wood crafts- one was the stacked wood with vinyl words- a girl in our ward cut them out,so it was very affordable!

then the wooden nativities. I do love them.

so simple and beautiful.

I have some more wood and paint, and am going to make up a few for presents to give away. I scoured Michaels for weeks, and had my sister scour other ones in the city to find enough heads for everyone!

yikes.

(I took this picture at a ladies house we were at for a RS meeting- she had her crafts still out, so I snapped a pic, so at least I have something to show!)

the one craft I did, that I love- was a string of lights, with strips of fabric tied on them.

it took all the day, and more work at home- but I love it. sadly I don't really have a place in my house to display it.- so for now it is wrapped on my tree- which I do like, but I did just do a small string of lights, so I am now thinking of doing more lights so that I can wrap it more than 2 times around my tree.

I had a hot chocolate bar set up- with three different kinds of hot chocolate-

regular,

candy cane,

and white (my favorite)

with whipped cream, candy canes, sprinkles, and cookies to go in it.- and marshmallows, and cherries, and caramel sauce- the works. so delish!

I wish I had taken a picture of the gym at the church. but I didn't. forgot all about my camera until the decorations were down.

I made paper chains with white paper, and fancy paper snowflakes,

and they were hanging all around.

super cheap, easy- I am all over that!

we also had a lightbulb ornament- painted like a reindeer (way too hard for me!)

gifts in a jar,

and cardboard 3D stars.

and a card making table

pretty simple,

but it was a nice day!

tv.

we cancelled our cable a while ago.

I was okay with that. we didn't have a pvr,

so I missed alot of the shows I would have watched in the evenings,

and there really isn't anything too great on in the day time.

but recently we signed up for netflix.

and I discovered this show.

I think someone I know on facebook mentioned it-

drop dead diva.

it is really cute!

if you have the means,

I highly recommend checking it out.

alright,

off to go watch an episode, or 2!

inevitable

we knew it would happen sooner or later-

thankfully it was later this year!

it snowed.

just a bit.

this is how it looked on Saturday morning.

shovelling,

icy roads.

winter is here!
let the fun begin.

thirteen on thursday

haven't done one of these in a long time- but I also am not blogging much lately, so I have lots to share.

1. the kids are on fall break this week. no school. nice, and not nice. sleeping in is wonderful!

the fighting I could do without.

2. no snow yet! I am still in shock! but loving it!

3. I have had a tooth ache for the past couple of days- I went to the dentist yesterday and found out I needed a root canal. fun.

4. this morning I had a root canal. it was not so fun.

5. our super saturday is this saturday. I am helping plan it. it is stressful. (it is a craft day for the women at the church)

6. I am decorating the church gym for it- I am excited! hopefully it will turn out like I imagined it!

7. I am excited for the craft I am doing. I will show you it when it is done! hopefully it will be cute!

8. I applied for a job to be a lunch room sub.

I never heard anything more.

last week a lunch lady called to see if I could sub for her.

I guess I was hired!

surprise!

9. I did a craft sale last weekend with my sister.

one of the better sales, but still not very good.

why do we keep doing them? I don't know.

maybe someday we will go big! sell out.

but probably not.

10. tonight Jack and I are going on a date to see the last Harry Potter movie.

yes, I have not seen it yet. I am excited nonetheless.

okay - I am drawing blanks on things to say, so we shall end it there-

ten on thursday!

melt down

this morning was a melt down of epic proportions.

sweet little miss maggie was having a hard time.

you see,

she had on a pink and brown striped shirt, and the only pants that would match were her brown ones,

that she couldn't find.

they were found later,

but before that I pulled a few of her jeans out of the dryer,

so then she didn't know which pants to wear.

I know.

serious business.

so she cried and wailed

and was screaming- "I don't know"

over and over and over.

yikes.

she didn't really have tantrums as a toddler.

maybe a few, but nothing major.

I think she saved them up for her 6th year.

she did pick out the jeans she wanted,

but they didn't go with the shirt.

(I did tell her that everything goes with jeans)

so anyways, she picked out a new shirt, blew her nose,

wiped her tears and was happy when I took her over to school.

- the picture is from a previous melt down-

when she HAD to come and deliver papers with us, then half a block down decided she wanted to go home. but no one was home, so I said she had to keep coming. yowsa.

thank goodness she is mainly a very happy go lucky girl.

candy!

happy halloween!

I ran over to the school for the parade just after lunch.

I had to buy candy to hand out to the trick or treaters this morning.

I think this is the first year I have had to buy it the day of halloween.

I think I was afraid I would eat it all before it got given out!

and we still haven't carved our pumpkin! yikes.

halloween kind of sneaked up on us this year!

scary stuff.

do we have a birthday here?

well, we did.

in fact 2 birthdays.

Cory and my birthdays are 5 days apart.

and my parents are both born in October-

and a couple of in laws. and I know there are a few cousins too.

what a great month.

I made some red velvet cupcakes for my birthday.

so delish.

here is maggie cleaning out the tube I put the batter in to help get it into the cupcake cups a bit easier.

sweet red lips.

it was on Monday. my birthday, that is.

I was treated to a crepe breakfast by my sweet visiting teachers.

then I took myself to the titanic display at the science center- because I had a pass,

but found out the pass wouldn't get me into the titanic part, had to pay extra for that.

it was interesting- but I was thinking it would be better.

then supper and red velvet cupcakes.

then I was in bed, and asleep by 9:30.

it is official. I am now an old lady!

and Cory's birthday.

low key.

we don't really go big for birthdays.

and the older you get, the less fuss you want!

sort of!

I am doing a wellness challenge with a group of people.

one of the things is no sugary snacks.

but sunday is a free day.- and then you can have one other day with out losing points, so Monday was my free day- it being my birthday and all.

so I am really hoping that I can hold out, and there are still some cupcakes left on Sunday, so I can eat some more.

if I do eat sugar, I just don't get a point for that on that day- it is hard, but I think I have been doing okay.

sugar is definitely the hardest part for me on this challenge!

today started out with a bang.

then some pops.

and some fun.

and some kids I kind of missed.

but it was very early.

see- I subbed for seminary today.

but on my way out of the driveway, I backed right into Cory's car.

I hoped he didn't hear it, (that was the bang)

and drove on.

we played a game involving blowing up and popping balloons-

hence the pops.

I used to teach seminary- 2 years ago.

I sort of missed seeing those kids every morning, and the things I knew about them.

but it was early. and is early everyday.

I guess that is why it is called early morning seminary!

then when we got back home the car had crutches by it. ( I think I might have to reinact that for my photo of the day!)

I guess he heard the bang. I don't think there was any damage done,

and now the boys have something to hold over me for a while.

what a great start to the day.